AW 17670 PCB Failure... From Dropped Light?

[reppans]

So I was about to take my dog for walk with my Quark Turbo X on a 17670 when I dropped it with the light on from about 3ft - light goes out once it hits the ground. After running all the usual tests, I find the light is fine and the batt. is dead - 0 volts, PCB kicked in. I try to reset it in my 47s and Cottonpicker chargers, and even a parallel jump from a 14500 and all are no go - 0 volts.

Any ideas? Haven't heard about a failure like this before.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

So you tried the + to + and then connected the - to - method for the dead cell and it didn't reset the PCB?

Short of you not being able to jump start the cell by the above method, you can always remove the wrapper and remove the PCB and see if the bare cell will charge up, or even give you a positive voltage reading.

Chris

 

[reppans]

Yes, + to + and - to - parallel jump for 2 seconds (although the jumping cell was 3.9v). Previously PCBs reset in my chargers just fine.... sounds like this one is toast..... from a drop. I may have to open it up and run it as an unprotected. Thanks

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Reppans,

My best guess is that you broke the protection circuit board.

Tom

 

[reppans]

Thanks Tom.... guess there're no other reset tricks out there. Not a big deal, batts are relatively inexpensive.

 

[LightWalker]

Any dents in the bezel? I have dropped my Quark 123*2 with an AW 17670 several times, sometimes setting it in my lap while sitting in car and forgetting about it, then standing up and it would go flying. It suffered some small dents but no battery problems but that light has a much smaller head and I imagine it is quite a bit lighter.

I would just run it unprotected since it will be run in a single cell application.

 

[reppans]

There're a few dents from other drops, not sure which is new... maybe I'll strip the batt down, but I'm not the best electrician and prefer not to mess with the risk of a dead short in a potential pipe bomb. Then again, it might be a good learning experience, I guess you have to start somewhere.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

There're a few dents from other drops, not sure which is new... maybe I'll strip the batt down, but I'm not the best electrician and prefer not to mess with the risk of a dead short in a potential pipe bomb. Then again, it might be a good learning experience, I guess you have to start somewhere.

You just blew out your PCB. Take a sharp knife and go to town. Naked cells are fine in a single cell light, if you pay attention to them.

Chris

 

[reppans]

You just blew out your PCB. Take a sharp knife and go to town. Naked cells are fine in a single cell light, if you pay attention to them.

Chris

Yes, I do pay attention to them... So you don't need to re-shrink wrap the cell?

I thought I read posts here not to mess with the black shrink wrap. But I guess the shell will be all neg ground and the positive terminal seems well isolated with a plastic disk... guess that should be fine in a light. Guess I'll need to be careful what the cell touches outside of the light though .

 

[HKJ]

Yes, I do pay attention to them... So you don't need to re-shrink wrap the cell?

I thought I read posts here not to mess with the black shrink wrap. But I guess the shell will be all neg ground and the positive terminal seems well isolated with a plastic disk... guess that should be fine in a light. Guess I'll need to be careful what the cell touches outside of the light though .

Depending on the inside of you body, the battery may short the tail switch.

 

[reppans]

Depending on the inside of you body, the battery may short the tail switch.

Great point HKJ, the tube is anodized (although I wouldn't call it thick), but it would make feel a whole lot better to just re-shrink wrap it... or at minimum wrap the batt tube with a layer or two of packing tape. I will also look up your great article on PCBs as that will help me with the dissection.

Thanks.

 

[HKJ]

Great point HKJ, the tube is anodized (although I wouldn't call it thick), but it would make feel a whole lot better to just re-shrink wrap it... or at minimum wrap the batt tube with a layer or two of packing tape. I will also look up your great article on PCBs as that will help me with the dissection.

I do not understand why some people try to use packing tape or teflon tape, you can get 1 meter shrink wrap for about $1 in China and it is easy to replace the wrap.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Great point HKJ, the tube is anodized (although I wouldn't call it thick), but it would make feel a whole lot better to just re-shrink wrap it... or at minimum wrap the batt tube with a layer or two of packing tape. I will also look up your great article on PCBs as that will help me with the dissection.

Thanks.

I bought 50 pieces of green, blue, red and orange pre-cut 18650 size shrink wrappers last week (Illumination Supply) after I opened up my first laptop pack and nicked 5 out of the 8 cells with my pliers. They came late last week and I did all 5 of them with only the first one getting botched up (you have to trim a bit for naked cells,) which I promptly redid.

It looks much better and it's much safer than having pieces of 3M Scotch tape plastered all over them.

I really did a hatchet job.

10 of them for a dollar. I'm sure these would work on a 16650/17670.

Chris

 

[reppans]

hehe... I don't care about the cost - it's just being lazy and mail-order impatient . I have shrink wrap for wiring and used it before, but have nothing 17670 size. Maybe I'll stop by a hardware store to look, but I'm not a fan of online ordering small stuff, esp. from China - just got in my first Fasttech order and can't say I'm overly impressed - got some real crap, and obviously not worth the effort of returning.